- Written by Website Administrator
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On Wednesday 7th November 2018 as we approached the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice which marked the end of the Great War of 1914 -1918 the Commemorative Oak tree in Carr Lodge Park, Horbury was blessed by Father Christopher Johnson of St Peter's Church. The tree was planted the day before with the help and guidance of the "Wakefield Tree Wardens" ably assisted by members of the Phoenix Rotary Club.
This is a significant moment for The Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix who have worked hard to make the planting of this tree happen. Credit is due in particular to the members of the "Remembrance 2018 Team" made up of several Phoenix Rotary members headed by the Chair of the Club's Community Service Committee, Nick Bardsley. The team also includes this year's Phoenix Rotary President Alan Hudders. Nick Bardsley is seen here beside the tree after the blessing ceremony. A picture including some of the good folks of Horbury, including local Councillor Darren Byford, who braved the pouring rain to attend, will follow.
The plaque that accompanies the Comemorative Oak
The crowd that braved the rain at the Tree Blessing
Phoenix Rotary's Community Service Chairman Nick Bardsley
- Written by Website Administrator
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As part of a local project marking the Centenary of the End of World War 1 in 1918, the Horbury Coop kindly hosted a display board for the project team.
So what was it all about?
From the end of August 2018 until at least Remembrance Sunday on November 11th we had a display board in Horbury Co-op featuring approximately 16-20 individual "pages" of the local men who died in World War 1.
Many local people whilst shopping at the Coop stopped to browse and reflect upon these poignant fact sheets and photos of the 192 men of Horbury and Sitlington who gave there lives in this conflict.
The Display in Horbury Coop
The "pages" displayed were printouts of the same web pages available to view on the website and all of them to can be viewed there. An example of one follows:
The website has alphabetical lists of the fallen, each link leading to an individual page of details for each local man who gave his life in the Great War. For some we have even found their photo.
An example of one of the "pages for each man"
(The are 192 of these pages on the website)
This particular local man, as far as we can tell, was the first to die in the Horbury and Sitlington area:
What's a Shingler do at an Iron Works?
A Shingler worked with an Iron Puddler, manipulating puddled balls of iron on an anvil.
The worker known as an Iron Puddler took molten iron from the furnace
and made balls of white hot iron to then be hammered by the Shingler to make iron bars.
The organisations working on this Remembrance Project are:
- The Horbury, Sitlington and Ossett Branch of The Royal British Legion
- The Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix
- The Senior Citizens Support Group (West Wakefield)
- The Rotary Club of Ossett
- The ossett.net Website "Ossett - the history of a Yorkshire town"
The Aims and Objectives of the project:
- To engage with the local population and utilise online and library resources to gain some detail about the background of each of our fallen.
- Who they were, where they lived, what they did in civilian life, their surviving families, how old they were when they died and their final resting place and to, display such information mainly on the project's web pages: Link: Remembrance 2018
- To engage with local businesses, clubs, associations and groups to partner, support and participate in the project.
- To utilise website/social media presence to record and publicise all aspects of the project and further engage with the community.
- It is hoped that Schools, Academies and Youth Groups will also become interested and involved with the project.
- In a nutshell to work with the Horbury, Sitlington and Ossett Branch of The Royal British Legion and other organisations, including those listed above, to help coordinate, list and advertise events and activities appropriate to Remembrance in 2018 and in celebration of the Centenary of the end of Great War.
- Written by Michael Adams
- Hits: 195
PhysioNet, established in 2005, is a North Yorkshire based charity that provides people that have disabilities in developing countries and Eastern and Central Europe with physiotherapy equipment, wheelchairs, mobility items and some hospital hardware.
Throughout the UK, a lot of equipment, is no longer required by a variety of agencies, for example the NHS, Local Authorities, Social Services and the private sector... and it would generally end up in land fill sites! PhysioNet has built up a network of of enthusiastic volunteers to collect such donated equipment and deliver it to a PhysioNet's depot in North Yorkshire...The Equipment is then catagorised, checked, wrapped and listed. Items are then hand packed into 40ft containers for shipment to countries around the world, eg Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria, Romania, Bhutan, Syria, Belarus, Ukraine, Ghana, South Africa etc.
PhysioNet was awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Services in 2017, a great achievement.
PhsioNet could not exist to do this very valuable and humanitarian work without help through provision of local collection points, volunteer workers and lastly but very importantly financial support via charitable donations. In West Yorkshire, the Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix provides some help in each of those three ways. There are many supporting Clubs and Organisations providing such help and here are a few links to their websites:
Rotary Club of Knaresborough - use search to find articles on PhisioNet
Rotary Club of Saffron Walden - use search to find articles on PhysioNet
Video of the Bulgarian child using a donated lightweight walker
- Written by Alan Hudders
- Hits: 212
As a result of a Senior Resident in Croftlands who was frightened to sit out on her patio due to possibility of slipping on the moss and debris, we got a request for help with clearing the patio. I mentioned to Tracey (PCSO) @ Brickhouse YC that we had this resident needing help and she immediately said leave it to us the youths @ (Brickhouse YC). So after arranging to visit the premise on Sunday 8th July along with 1 Youth (Olivia) who is a leader at the YC they set about clearing the patio to make it fit for the resident to sit out. The pictures show how bad the patio was before the work was completed, and the satisfaction of the resident on completion of the work . As a result of this excellent response the Manager (Karen) at Croftlands which is an Independent Living Scheme run by WDH has now had several more requests which Brickhouse YC are happy to take on. It shows how younger people in the community can integrate and help older people and they must feel proud of what they have achieved.
Well done Olivia and thanks for Tracey's help in organising this.
An Update: Dated 22 July 2018 (2 weeks after the patio clean up)
The Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix work very closely with the Tree Wardens Voluntary Group and their Chairman Roger Parkinson, based at The Rose Garden Nursery, Thornes Park, and they have helped us a lot with our projects in the local community, including refurbishments and installation of benches, tree planting, bird boxes and other essential work.
After our Community Chair (Nick Bardsley) mentioned the work the Brickhouse Youth Club of Ossett had done for Pat Roberts at Croftlands (as seen here), Roger has sent us the 2 planters for the patio. We are sure Pat will enjoy sitting out and seeing the fantastic colours in the plants which will make a huge difference.
- Written by Bill Sutton
- Hits: 262
Horbury Show was once again a great success this year with all available club members contributing to the organisation, management, and control of the park on the day. We had more volunteers than ever helping with set up, car parking, bric a brac and soft drinks stalls, litter picking, and general clear up of the site.
Our sponsors enabled us to put on new attractions like the Animal Farm which proved to be a great success with our younger visitors and their parents - it was free entry after all. Spice, The Horbury Pink Ladies and Westgate Cheerleaders put on great performances in the searing heat with quite a few of them looking totally exhausted after their performances. Once again the Falconry display was well received, it gets better year on year, and the ferret racing was very popular with the crowd. The number and quality of the Veteran or is it vintage or classic cars was at an all time high both in quality and quantity and the dog show attracted a good number of entries.
It was also a special day for one of our regulars, Tom Greatorex the conductor of Horbury Band, who led them with his usual great aplomb to two performances on his 70th birthday - there were many people walking up to him with congratulations for both his birthday and the bands fine performance.
Of course one of the other highlight of the show was the flypast by a Spitfire from the BBMF which arrived bang on time in a clear blue sky and did three passes at what seemed like tree top height.
Did the World cup effect us - not a great deal - it was a win for England and a win for Horbury Show.
Did the weather effect us - yes it did but with plenty of fluids and perseverance we had a great day putting on a show that Horbury and Phoenix can be proud of.
Oh by the way we know the Show is a team effort but, we were once again led by a great team leader and Chief Horbury Show organiser/FC1 John Faulkner without whom we would never have taken it on and who once again led from the front - well done John.
photos courtesy of THE WAKEFIELD EXPRESS
- Written by Website Administrator
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Prize winners drawn at the Horbury Show
Sunday 24th June 2018
1st Prize £100 Co-op Voucher Ticket 0066
2nd Prize £50 Co-op Voucher Ticket 0560
3rd Prize £25 Co-op Vouchers Ticket 1444
4th Prize £30 Cinnamon Lounge Voucher Ticket 2754
5th Prize Bottle of Scotch Ticket 1111
6th Prize 2 Bottles of Wine Ticket 1215
7th Prize Bottle of Wine + Glasses Ticket 2907
8th Prize Bottle of Wine + Toiletries Ticket 1253
9th Prize Bottle of Wine + Scented Candle Ticket 1205
10th Prize ½ Bottle of Scotch + Toiletries Ticket 1645
11th Prize Bottle of Wine + Picture Frame Ticket 0717
12th Prize Bottle of Wine Ticket 1695
All winners will be notified by phone and their prizes delivered to their home address prior to 3rd July.
- Written by Nick Bardsley
- Hits: 307
Horbury Working Members Club hosted the Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Spring Bid Presentation Evening on Friday the 25th of May, which gave donations of financial support to 21 deserving causes.
Many thanks to all our beneficiaries, guest presenters and fellow Rotarians who helped make this such an excellent and enjoyable evening. Thanks also to Roy and his team at Horbury WMC for making us so welcome and maintaining a steady flow of food and beverages!
Further details will appear here in due course.
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- Written by Bill Sutton
- Hits: 344
President Neil Kirkham and 16 members of the Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Rotary Club were the central core of volunteers who spent the Saturday before Easter planting over 500 trees on the former landfill site at off Owl Lane, Shaw Cross, Ossett. They were joined by family members and additional volunteers from the Ossett and Wakefield Rotary Clubs. The event was a joint effort organised by Roger Parkinson of the Woodland Trust and Rotarian Nick Bardsley.
The species planted were all native British and Hawthorn, Oak, Alder, Wild Cherry, Willow and Blackthorn. Although the site is currently somewhat barren at the moment the planting will ensure that the natural environment will be significantly improved as the trees mature and varied wildlife takes up residence and starts breeding.
Nick Bardsley said " We spent about an hour and a half planting trees which can be regarded as a small investment of time to provide an environmental benefit which should last many years"
Photo: Depicts Members of the Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix and some of their family helpers with Roger Parkinson of the Woodland Trust. (in the centre wearing a hi-viz jacket)
- Written by Bill Sutton
- Hits: 423
Rotary Club President Neil Kirkham led 16 members of the Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Rotary club on a visit to the new home of the Ossett Youth Club, at The New Spring Centre, Illingworth Street, Ossett on Thursday evening 14th March 2018. Formerly known as the Brickhouse Youth Club and based at the old Ossett Police Station the club had been required to find new premises when maintenance costs of their previous home had became too expensive and WMDC decided they would have to cease its use. After considerable effort by the Council Officials, Youth Leaders and volunteers, Rotarian Tony Sargeant of Ossett Rotary Club suggested the New Spring Centre meeting rooms of the New Spring Church, in Illingworth Street, Ossett would fit the bill. Following negotiations with the church it was agreed that the youth club would move in at the beginning of February. Wakefield Council agreed to cover the rental charges for the first 3 years in the new premises.
Thursdays visit was the first opportunity for the youth club to thank all the individuals and local groups that had helped find and move into their new premises and to show off the facilities now in place which include video games, table tennis, and craft work. Members of the Youth Club were on hand to demonstrate the equipment and helpers provided teas coffees and light refreshments.
Rotary Club President Neil presented a cheque for £600 to the Youth Club and paid tribute to the magnificent work of all the leaders who had created the club and were determined to keep it going when closure was a distinct possibility.
Photo: Many of the members of Ossett Youth Club with Leaders including Bob Prince, along with David Lavery from New Spring Church, Rtn Tony Sargeant Ossett Rotary Club, Rotary President Neil Kirkham and members of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Rotary Club.
- Written by Bill Sutton
- Hits: 686
Members of the Horbury Breakthrough Youth Club were presented with two new tents and 3 new rucksacks on Monday evening to help them in gaining their Duke of Edinburgh bronze awards. The Youth Club have 35 members who are tackling the DofE Bronze Award this year and found themselves short of equipment so sought help from the Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix. President Elect Alan Hudders and Chairman of Rotary Youth Committee Mike Robb attended the club meeting to hand over the equipment to Youth Leader Kate who will supervise the DofE challenges. Mike Robb said, "As a recipient of a Gold DofE Award in my youth I know how valuable overcoming the challenges and achieving the standards have been to me both at the time and throughout my life. I would encourage all young people to get involved with DofE and similar challenges it will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives."
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The Rotary Club Charitable Trust, as reported previously in the Wakefield Express, and on this website, is currently looking for local good causes to support financially and applications should be submitted before 15 March 2018. (See article lower on this page for more details) "2018-02-01 Cash Available for Youth, Sport and Community Projects"
- Written by Nick Bardsley
- Hits: 550
A cohort of enthusiastic volunteers met on the sunny morning of the 16th of February, to site and fix a variety of boxes to suitable trees in the wooded areas on the fringe of the Calder and Hebble Navigation towpath between the Navigation Inn and the first Railway Bridge towards Horbury Bridge.
The boxes were funded by the Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Charitable Trust and fabricated by the special needs young people who are service users of the Thornes Park Nurseries Project led by their Lead Volunteer, Roger Parkinson of Wakefield Tree Wardens Group.
Volunteers included Roger Parkinson himself, Arthur Lumb, Ken Sugden and Bob Haigh of The Broad Cut Breakfast Club (Canals & Rivers Trust Volunteers who have ‘adopted’ this stretch of the Canal from the Navigation pub to the Figure of Three Lock at Healey Bottom) and Rotarians Mike Rogers and Nick Bardsley.
We established boxes for a range of species, just in advance of nesting time, including Robin, Wren, Great Tit, Tree Creeper, Pipistrelle Bat and the less common Noctule Bat.
Roger’s son has the equipment to monitor the progress of these new habitats and any increase in bird and bat populations. I will feed back the results to the club and post them on this website, as and when we have them.
Thanks again to volunteers and members who voted in support of this community project.
- Written by Bill Sutton
- Hits: 534
The Rotary Club of Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Trust Fund has announced that it has money available to fund suitable projects in the Horbury and Ossett and surrounding areas of Wakefield and Kirklees. The cash has been raised by a number of fund raising efforts by the Rotary Club over the past 12 months such as Horbury Show, Santa’s Sleigh and the Christmas raffle. Rotary Club President Neil Kirkham said, “ We raise money to support both local and international good causes, but by far the majority of what we raise goes back into our local community and that is the area we wish to target with an appeal for community, youth, sporting groups and individuals, to come forward and apply for financial assistance. We are anticipating making grants/donations in the region of £400 each but will consider both larger and smaller requests for funding.”
Any organisation or individual wishing to make an application should contact the Rotary Club by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before the request deadline of the 15th of March. An application form will be provided and given due consideration by our committees. Decisions will be made and applicants will be notified before the end of April with successful applicants also being invited to a presentation evening, to be held on Friday the 25th of May this year.
Previous application invitations have resulted in our providing equipment and team strips for youth sports teams; assistance with gaining coaching qualifications for adults involved in junior sport; the purchase of specialist equipment for individuals with additional needs; personal development courses for young people e.g. Outward Bound, Operation Raleigh; the provision of furnishings or decorations for those in need and Christmas meals for the elderly.
In the last 18 months the Trust Fund has spent over £28,000 benefitting local Schools (Horbury, Ossett, Ossett Towngate, Middlestown), Youth Leadership scheme, Outward Bound, Local Scouts, Local Junior Sports teams (Horbury Town, Sandal Minis + Juniors, Thornhill Trojans) Gifts for the Elderly and Hyacinths for the Blind or partially sighted, Wakefield Sight Aid, replacing seats in Carr Lodge park, large donations to Yorkshire Air Ambulance, 2 donations to local Flood Appeals at the start of 2017 as well as donations to various International Projects from Disaster Aid to educational projects.
- Written by Nick Bardsley
- Hits: 650
Janet Lodge – Ossett Youth Theatre
Janet has spent just about her entire life devoted to the theatre being everything from a performer through to being the director of Ossett Youth Theatre.
She founded Ossett Youth Theatre in 2002 which took over The Elizabethan Childrens Amateur Operatic Society.
Ossett Youth Theatre provides performance experiences for children from the age of 8 through to 20+ year olds who themselves have been with the theatre since they were younger.
In addition to the tireless work Janet has given to the Theatre, she has also worked as a School Secretary at Flushdyke Primary and Horbury Junior Schools where she also ran Out of School Drama Clubs, staging plays and theatre productions.
Janet is also a member of Batley Thespians, and the Kingsway Singers as well as involving herself with Keep Fit and raising money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Linda King
Linda has devoted over 50 years to Girl Guiding and the Brownies providing development experiences for young girls from the ages of 7 to 10 in the Brownies and 10 to 14 in the Girl Guides
Having moved from Widnes to Netherton she began at the United Reform Church in Dewsbury and ran her own pack at the Parish Church in Thornhill Lees for 20 years
Linda is a voluntary leader with 44th Horbury Brownies and has been the group's Treasurer for 7 years. She continues to involve herself with fundraising for the pack and for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Linda was also honoured with a visit to Westminster Abbey in recognition of 40 years service to Girlguiding. She spends additional time reading with children to help develop their literacy skills
Brian Jennings and Katie Swift
Brian and Katie are the founding members of FLAG Fundraising (fun, laughs and giggles) in 2014 and have successfully raised over £14,000 for various worthy causes including; Wakefield Hospice, Cancer Research UK, Sheffield Childrens Hospital, Catch a Falling Star, Macmillan Cancer Care, Forget Me Not Childrens Hospice, REACT, Poppy’s Cause, Leeds Homeless Partnership, Wakefield Street Kitchen and CAP Care.
They tirelessly fundraised for the defibrillator in Horbury Town Centre and regularly feed the homeless either personally, or through supplying those that do. In addition to their support for their community, they have sent care packages for Syrian refugees and even dog food for Romanian strays.
Brian and Katie plan to keep growing FLAG to become their own registered charity and a significant force for good in the community.
It is worth mentioning that all members of FLAG are in their 20’s and early 30’s and despite having to juggle work and family commitments, contribute an incredible amount of their ‘free’ time to fundraising initiatives.
- Written by Paul Helliwell
- Hits: 1109
At our Rotary club meeting of the 21st September 2017 we were delighted to be given a presentation by a young lady who we sponsored to take part in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) course held at a scout camp in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.
Ione was a shy, quiet and reserved 16 year old when Club members Mike Robb and Paul Helliwell picked her up on a very wet Saturday morning in July to take her to the course. Ione was involved in a number of community related activities prior to the course and was a very deserving candidate for our club to provide sponsorship for her to attend the 2017 course.
Ione's presentation to our club was her way of telling us what a real difference the course had made to her, as a person, to her future in the real world of work and life in general.
She gave an insight into the daily life and activities the course offers and what she gained from each of the activities.
It was very clear from Ione's presentation and confident delivery that she had come a long way as a result of the course.
Ione gave the club her heartfelt thanks, expressing her appreciation for our sponsorship which allowed her to take part in an experience she will never forget.
At the end of her presentation, Ione was presented with her course completion certificate by our club president, Neil Kirkham. The presentation to the sponsoring Rotary club is the final task all RYLA candidates must do to complete the course.
So what is RYLA?
RYLA is a leadership development course that aims to help 16-18 year old young people realise their leadership potential, through a mix of indoor and outdoor activities to develop them as an individual, as a team member and as a leader of a team in a safe and enjoyable environment.
Every year we try as a club to sponsor a young person to take part in what is possibly one of the most rewarding experiences a young person can have.
An example of feedback from another past candidate that, it is fair to say, sums up Ione's experience too "Despite any insecurities or fears, a course like RYLA changes your heart, mind, soul and body for life"
If you know of a potential young leader from the Horbury and Ossett area that would benefit from and would like to attend a course like this and who will be aged 16 or 17 around the end of July or beginning of August 2018 then they should contact the Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Rotary club Paul Helliwell by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information.
More information can be obtained from the RYLA District 1040 Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ryla1040/
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